Kellen SmetanaBoth figuratively and literally. Figuratively in the sense that we’re checking back with the western world after our first three days of cycling in China and all is well. Literally in the sense that Guangdong province has to be one of the more polluted areas on the planet. This afternoon we closed out a 125 kilometer day to finish in Wuzhou, the first major city in Guangxi province, and appear to be just starting to exit the industrial mess.

Over the last two days we passed through both Jiangmen and Zhaoqing: two cities you’ve almost certainly never heard of. Each of these has a population of over four million, about equivalent to the entire Atlanta metropolitan area. Guangdong province is strewn with generically named entities like the Wing Yuen Lung Garment Company Ltd. and Cinese Plastics Company. If you ever want to know where half of the products you buy are coming from, you’ll probably find these companies at the base of the supply chain. I mentioned Hong Kong has a lot of construction; this place has more. There’s road work, bridge work, mining trucks, and scaffolding everywhere. The air pollution in Guangdong is bearable; the noise pollution is not. Every car, bus, truck, and motorcycle honks as they pass to make sure other vehicles (including touring cyclists) don’t jet out into their lane. Since buses are the biggest and fastest, they pretty much ride the horn the entire time. It’s amazing we have yet to witness any road rage.

Even as dirty-looking as we were after two nights of camping along the side of the road, we seem to be quite the spectacle here. While stopped, we often have to smile for a photo or waive to anyone shouting “Hallo” from passing motorcycles. The first day Ben had some problems with his gears and an entire team of passing cyclists stopped to lend a hand (and photo-document the ordeal). With the little communication we’ve been able to have, the people have been friendly, helpful, and welcoming – all I could ask for! So I can’t bash Guangdong entirely, but let’s just say if there were an NCAA tournament of places I would like to live, it might match up in the first round against somewhere like Bavaria or Provence.

Into Guangxi tomorrow. Photos continue to wait until I can get my computer connected to the internet.